Rush - Vapor Trail

About "Vapor Trail"

Vapor Trails is the seventeenth studio album by Canadian rock band Rush. It was released on May 14, 2002, on Anthem Records, and was their first studio release since Test for Echo (1996), the longest gap between two Rush albums. After the Test For Echo tour finished in July 1997, drummer and lyricist Neil Peart suffered the loss of his daughter and then his wife in separate tragedies. As a result, the group entered an extended hiatus during which it was not certain they would continue. They eventually reunited in January 2001 to rehearse material for a new album, recording for which lasted until December. For the first and only time since Caress of Steel (1975), the group did not use any keyboards or synthesizers in their music, incorporating many layers of guitar, bass and drums instead.

Vapor Trails reached No. 3 in Canada and No. 6 in the United States. "One Little Victory" was released as the album's lead single in March 2002 and went to No. 10 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart in the United States. The next single was "Secret Touch". The album went gold in Canada in August 2002. The Vapor Trails Tour lasted from June through November 2002, which saw the band play to the largest crowds of its career in Brazil. Following the band's dissatisfaction with the album's overall production, two tracks were remixed for the Retrospective III: 1989–2008 compilation album. The positive feedback from this resulted in the entire Vapor Trails album being remixed by David Bottrill and released on September 30, 2013, as Vapor Trails Remixed, both as a separate release and as part of The Studio Albums 1989–2007.